Deep-pocketed organizations have gained an advantage in recent years by flexing their financial muscle in the minor leagues. By spending freely on cutting edge tools like high-speed cameras and motion capture technology to gather data in-game, those teams widened the information gap over rivals with fewer resources.
Not anymore.
Beginning next season, MLB will regulate the in-game technology available for use across all minor-league parks, multiple league and team sources told The Athletic. The move is designed to bring parity and quell what until now has been an unchecked arms race.
“We are taking this step to ensure that all 30 Clubs are working with the same set of information as they make Baseball Operations decisions,” an MLB spokesperson wrote in a statement confirming the change. “Each Club can use the information however they see fit, but it is important that we provide a level playing field on access to information.”
The league will now approve in-game data and technology vendors, a change that for many teams could mean access to new information at the minor-league level. But for clubs that have already made significant investments in technology they’ve come to rely on, the rule change could result in the removal of that same technology from their stadiums if it is not approved by the league.
Critics called the new policy an anti-spending measure that will curb innovation, render some past investments useless, and set the sport on a path towards more stringent limits on front office spending.
“That’s definitely a concern,” said one research and development executive. “And there has been a vocal subset of owners that have wanted to limit front office spending for a while.”
According to sources, who were granted anonymity because they don’t have the permission to talk about the change publicly, certain executives were informed of the development at the GM meetings in November. By last week’s Winter Meetings, the talk about this news was rampant among executives who deal with data and technology.
The goal of the new rule appears straightforward: give every team in the minors the same set of data and video, just as the league has done in the majors. That stands in contrast to the current system, which has led to disparity.
For example, while some organizations have spent to install Hawk-Eye tracking data at all of their minor-league stadiums, others have not. That could change with centralization, in which MLB would pay to install the new technology where needed. Though it remains unclear which technology and data vendors will be approved, the league has acknowledged the possibility of some teams needing to scale back.
“The effect will be different by ballpark, as some facilities will see additional tech installations while others will be unchanged or reduced,” wrote the MLB spokesperson. “MLB will pay for and manage the technology.”
In the past, well-heeled teams were able to take meetings with different technology providers and invest if they thought there was additional value with the new product. Many of those teams also pressed their financial advantage by securing every available technology to accumulate as much data as possible — even if they weren’t yet sure how to use the data and might only figure it out later. The rule change takes away that ability to gather now and analyze later.
Multiple vendors privately bemoaned the decision, even if they still theoretically have a shot at partnering with the league.
“We won’t know what sort of innovation we’ll miss because of this,” said one high-level research and development analyst. “But we’ll probably miss out on something.”
There’s also the question as to whether the move will have a negative impact on the quality of data in the minors.
Consider Kinetrax, an in-game marker-less motion capture company that produces important biomechanical data. Multiple teams prefer Kinetrax to Hawk-Eye, which is a major-league level partner. Since late last year, the firms share the same parent company (Sony), which could make it more likely that they will be one of the approved vendors.
But Kinetrax is also a premium product with a high price tag, and MLB may balk at upgrading every minor-league park to include that costly tech.
“We’re a Kinetrax team,” said a frustrated research and development executive. “What will we do with our systems and existing tech if they aren’t approved?”
Some teams use additional high-frame-rate cameras, like Edgertronic, to augment their ability to analyze in-stadium movements. Catapult, a wearable technology that tracks player movement and can help teams understand fatigue better, is used by major- and minor-league players — but only in games at the minor-league level. The future of those pieces of technology in minor-league games might also be in question.
If past decisions like this can serve as prologue, an all-team memo will likely clear up the many questions front office employees have, including what exactly constitutes a data or technology versus a service, which types of technology might have be taken out of current stadiums, and how minor-league complexes might be regulated compared to minor-league stadiums. The details of this developing issue will get ironed out over the course of the offseason, executives were assured.
Whether they like the answers remains to be seen.
